Cryptome Hacked; All Files Deleted

eldavojohn writes "Over the weekend, the whistle blowing site Cryptome was hacked and vandalized, resulting in all 54,000 files being deleted and two days worth of submissions lost. Cryptome reported that its EarthLink e-mail account was compromised in ways unknown, and once the attacker was inside there, they were able to request a new password from the administration console for Cryptome at their hosting provider, Network Solutions. Once the attacker had that password, they deleted the ~7 GB of data that Cryptome hosted in around 54,000 files. Cryptome was able to eventually restore the site, as they keep backups ready for cases like this and stated that they 'do not trust our ISP, email provider and officials to tell the truth or protect us.'"

Comments

Editing!

[GuJiaXian]

Holy cow, please edit the submissions before posting them.

*sigh* I'll get modded down for having the nerve to ask for a baseline of professionalism, won't I?

Hack

[Stargoat]

Is a social engineering attack a hack? It sounds like someone called over to EarthLink and got an e-mail password reset. Then, once holding the e-mail account, called over to Network Solutions. This sort of thing wouldn't be difficult at all.

Re:Backups for the win!

[erroneus]

But they weren't smart enough to mirror submissions to other servers and so two days of submissions were lost. Those two days could easily have been the target. If so, then mission accomplished.

Professional vs. Amateur Hour

[cdrguru]

A professional organization that knows its web presence is its life is going to have a bit better setup than a server that someone else (Network Solutions in this case) has control over. The right solution is a co-located server that is controlled exclusively by the organization. The hosting company doesn't need to have any passwords. They are also going to have their email processed by their own server and not be relying on an ISP for anything at all except connectivity.

However, a completely amateur operation is going to use shared virtual hosting because it is cheaper and the hosting company will be doing backups for them. And controlling passwords. And all other security. Oh, and using a non-domain based email setup from an ISP.

I guess it is pretty obvious into which category Cryptome falls, right?

Yes, it would cost $2000 a year or more for a co-located server whereas shared virtual hosting is dirt cheap.

Re:Professional vs. Amateur Hour

[twoallbeefpatties]

[A] completely amateur operation is going to use shared virtual hosting because it is cheaper and the hosting company will be doing backups for them. And controlling passwords... I guess it is pretty obvious into which category Cryptome falls, right?

Being a non-profit organizatino, Cryptome's status as a professional organization or an amateur organization probably depends on the size of their donation base. For a website group trying to get by on a shoestring budget... well, maybe this little stunt will help them raise awareness to get the donations for a better server setup. (Not that I actually know the size of their donation base, and maybe they do have enough money for that sort of setup and they're just stingy/stupid.)

Re:Earthlink? Network Solutions?

[caffeinemessiah]

and you're an idiot if you post anything there expecting to be anonymous.

Why? If I really wanted to post something anonymously, I would set up a network of proxy SSH severs paid for with prepaid debit cards (purchased using cash), change the wireless MAC on a throwaway secondhand laptop (purchased using cash off Craigslist), walk down to the local Starbucks, access my proxy setup through Tor, and then be reasonably confident that I would be able to do anything anonymously. Of course, I would only post plain text files.

So I don't really understand why you would be an idiot for expecting anonymity if you went to the pains of taking care of it.